Dat Tran, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Data Governance and Analysis, Department of Veterans Affairs, explained his department's approach to data integration and how it can be used to provide better services to veterans to theCUBE co-hosts Jeff Kelly and Dave Vellante, live at the MIT CDOIQ Symposium. With a long history of dealing with veterans' needs after service, the VA has been implementing its technology infrastructure and setting up systems since the 1970s, and currently focuses a customer-centric perspective when approaching data. "The number one thing when we look at how to approach customer data integration, we look at it from a business process perspective," Tran explained. Starting with what needs to be delivered in terms of business and services, VA data scientists determine where to capture data to support every step of the process across the department's activity. "We know what data is critical to the business process, so we can decide the priority of how we approach the customer data integration," he added. Start with the source Adhering to a new approach implies a shift in mindset, and culture is the first that must be changed. "The way we look at it, we bring up the value prop of what is in it for our client. Folks understand that what we need to do to support the client," focusing on what is in it for the veterans at the end of the day, says Tran. In order to document their business processes, the VA approached those who understand how they work. As Tran explained, there were business people with data backgrounds, along with those with an IT background, and those who understood the business process. They had also used a template to be filled out by veterans, then addressed experts on best practices to capture metadata. "We identify actors, processes, system," which were then interlinked. Asked what the VA aims to achieve in the future with their business processes, Tran said it would become an "integrated business service delivery organization to our veterans." To get its ambitious plans on track, "we were able to identify where we have an overlap and where we have gaps of information, where we ask the vets to go out and seek" the data. "What we are ultimately going to do is reduce or eliminate the overlap," to then free resources to address how the gaps could be filled. Data enables pro-activity with Veterans cases The ultimate aim is to improve services for veterans. Asked to explain what their future experience would look like, Tran stated that "clients are basically coming out of the military. The information is currently captured by the Department of Defense. We ultimately will know ahead of time before someone potentially becomes our client." When the customer data integration environment is fully in place, "we will reduce the burden on the veterans and their families to come up with proof of service," military history and apply for benefits. The department will "proactively provide benefits or service, or at least reduce the burden on veterans." The environment will also enable self-service for veterans, such as retrieving information or updating personal information online. "We are not quite there," Tran said, but the burden has already been reduced. While developing this environment and integrating the customer-centric approach, the biggest lesson was that "it's not always about the technology, the people factor is the hardest to change," Tran said. The solution was to change the culture by messaging and they had to learn to communicate early and often in the process. "At the end of the day, even if we are data folks, marketing is very important," and by marketing Tran meant strategic communication -- when you have an idea, you have to create a value proposition and communicate it early and often in clear terms, so that both business and tech people can understand it. Dat Tran, Department of Veternas Affairs, at MIT Information Quality 2013 with Dave Vellante and Jeff Kelly @thecube #MITIQ